Satan looks up between his feet—both tug—
He’s left, himself, i’ the middle: The soul wakes
And grows.”
But here supremely appears our principle of co-operation. Prayer for deliverance from evil cannot end on the lips. There is no conquest of the flesh, no killing out of ape and tiger, until we ourselves catch at God’s skirts and rise to live for the Spirit and by the Spirit. There is no deliverance till the soul says, “I will be free” and God and man tug on the same side. Wherever any citadel of evil is battered God and man are there together. God finds a human organ and man draws on the inexhaustible resources of God.
Prayer, whether it be the lisp of a little child, or the wrestling of some great soul in desperate contest with the coils of habit or the evil customs of his generation is a testimony to a divine-human fellowship. In hours of crisis the soul feels for its Companion, by a natural gravitation, as the brook feels for the ocean. In times of joy and strength, it reaches out to its source of Life, as the plant does to the sun. And when it has learned the language of spiritual communion and knows its Father, praying refreshes it as the greeting of a friend refreshes one in a foreign land. We ought not to expect that prayer, of the true and lofty sort, could be attained by easy steps. It involves appreciation of God and co-operation with Him. One comes not to it in a day. Even human friendship is a great attainment. It calls for sacrifice of private wishes and for adjustment to the purposes of another life. One cannot be an artist or a musician without patient labor to make oneself an organ of the reality which he fain would express. He must bring himself by slow stages to a height of appreciation. Prayer is the highest human function. It is the utterance of an infinite friendship, the expression of our appreciation of that complete and perfect Person whom our soul has found. “Lord, teach us how to pray.”
The United States a Christian Nation.
BY
HON. DAVID J. BREWER,
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court United States.
Haverford College Library Lectures, 1905.
In this book the Distinguished Christian Jurist has discussed three important topics:
First. “THE UNITED STATES A CHRISTIAN NATION,” in which he shows why our Republic should be so classified, basing his argument upon the Decisions of the Supreme Court, Colonial Charters, Constitution of the United States, and National and State Legislation.
Second. “OUR DUTY AS CITIZENS.” A strong plea for Business Honesty and Integrity, for Liberty and the Rights of Man, for Education, for Peace and Temperance.
Third. “THE PROMISE AND POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE.” An earnest and eloquent exhortation to the young men of America to temper their devotion to country with fidelity to the teachings of the Gospel.